My name is Rich Reedinger. I am the Team Manager for the US Youth Fly Fishing Team. We are the only official US Youth team sanctioned by FIPS-Mouche, the international sanctioning body for fly fishing competitions. I am posting this note here in the hope that anyone aspiring to learn more about competitive fly fishing and would like to attend a clinic to develop skills and possibly be invited to join the US Youth team to compete in various countries around the world. For example, next summer we will be fishing in Slovakia against 15 to 20 teams from all over for the World Championship of Youth Fly Fishing. The following year (2011) we will be in Italy.
We are accepting applications for our Spring Clinic to be held on May 7,8 and 9th, 2010 in Lamar, PA on the famous Fishing Creek. We are limited to 40 applicants and we will be selecting kids for the open spots on the team at this clinic. The age group is 14 to 18 yrs of age. We will accept younger applicants, if space is available. Our coaches and trainers are among the best in the US and most have competed internationally on the Senior US Team. If you are interested, please visit the team website at [url]www.usyouthflyfishingteam.com. You can email me directly at manager@usyouthflyfishingteam.com if you have any specific questions. If you cannot make this clinic, we will be holding a second clinic in Nye, Montana during August, 2010. Check our website for further info when dates are firm.

Dang, I hate to think that we are teaching kids to be competitive fly fishers. It seems like it would just take the fun right out it. Everything in our lives is about competition. Why do we have to take one of our greatest activities of relaxation and turn it into a competition?

Gentlemen, I'm not looking to start a debate here. I realize competitive fly fishing is not for everyone, but it does appeal to many fishermen, particularly the kids. I am afraid your negative comments will discourage some from learning more about this facet of the sport. Most folks do not understand what competitive fly fishing is all about, but once they witness a true competition, they realize their objections are unfounded.
As for European rules taking fun out of everything; some of the fishing is done with "Czech nymphing" techniques. Yes, that can be tedious, but effective. However, the development of other skills including dry fly and streamer presentations are taught and used as well. In most events, a deep water venue is included which uses new skills for fishing out of a boat with fly tackle. Most Americans do not do this regularly and are not taught how. But the kids will learn the methods used and start catching trout in deep water.
I encourage you to visit our website and look at some of the photos of the kids competing. They are serious flyfishermen and live for this stuff. The kids we have on the team will one day be the leaders of our sport. Many will work in the flyfishing industry as reps or tackle designers, etc. Some will become authors of books and articles about the sport and so on. These are very dedicated anglers who are proud to represent their country on the international stage. They are true ambassadors of our country and our sport.

I used to think poorly of fly fishing competition myself but after doing a bit more research on it and looking at it from a different angle, I came to realize that there is nothing wrong with it, at least in my opinion.
We are all competitive on the water, that is why we tell stories about the big one that did or didn't get away. Or why we try and embellish our best moments on the water and so on.
Youth competition in any sport gives them opportunity to socialize with other fishers whom they would never meet. It gives them a chance to learn techniques they might never learn and it exposes them to people who may help them down the road. Networking is a powerful tool in any walk of life.
In some cases the youngsters will be exposed to different cultures, learn more about their world and be the better for it.
More importantly I think, it will help to socialize them. They will be working with both adults and other youth who will set examples of how we treat each other and the environment, some of them will be todays leaders, some will be tomorrows leaders.
Competition is already in our sport, best rod, best reel, best vise, best fly. So getting out there and finding that competition can be healthy and not lacking in respect is in my opinion a pretty important thing.
If your son or daughter has ever expressed a desire to work in the outdoors these Fly Fishing competitions can be a gateway to a great future.
What I have seen, by the way, has nothing to do with a Bass Masters style of event at all in case you were thinking that.

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Each smallest act of kindness - even just words of hope when they are needed, the remembrance of a birthday, a compliment that engenders a smile - reverberates across great distances and spans of time, affecting lives unknown to the one whose generous spirit was the source of this good echo, because kindness is passed on and grows each time it's passed, until a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage years later and far away.

Dang, I hate to think that we are teaching kids to be competitive fly fishers. It seems like it would just take the fun right out it. Everything in our lives is about competition. Why do we have to take one of our greatest activities of relaxation and turn it into a competition?

Frank

I'd have to disagree Frank

I believe that ' competitiveness ' is something we naturally have or don't have, these youngsters who come forward to these trials will no doubt be following there natural path.......... and should it lead them this way... so be it, there's a lot worse they could do . Fishing at this level will educate them in more ways than just flyfishing, they will learn the benefits of team playing, discipline, and much much more moral fibre . There will be highs and lows for sure but they'll come out stronger. As for the fun, they'll get that as well, they'll make friends and have a good laugh along the way.

All life forms compete or disappear. I'd just like to think fly fishing might be a place to stand and appreciate life. If I catch a fish, I went one up on him, or others on the stream.
If I go fishless, did I lose? For me fly fishing is contempletive, not competeitive. I think being out in nature saved my life, I wonder if the outcome would have been the same, standing next to a guy with a stop watch.
Be careful what you ask for, you may get it.

__________________
Each smallest act of kindness - even just words of hope when they are needed, the remembrance of a birthday, a compliment that engenders a smile - reverberates across great distances and spans of time, affecting lives unknown to the one whose generous spirit was the source of this good echo, because kindness is passed on and grows each time it's passed, until a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage years later and far away.

Almost everything I do now at 45 for fun was something I was competitive about when I was a child. I trained formally, practiced, made true diciplines out of these activities. Once I started paying for the roof over my head though...these activities became hobbies or side incomes, things I did in my spare time because I was adept at them. It would be so cool now if one of those activities had been competition fly fishing!

My son is already highly competitive, mostly with himself and the goals he sets. Any dicipline, anything that will push him to learn and perfect now, when he is young, is something I see he could use later in life to enrich his experience. He already thinks of fly fishing as the best way to fish circles around his friends. He's 12 but at 14 he may be interested in competition fly fishing..or he may feel like I do and keep the competition between him and the fish.

Montcopo is most likely learning valuable lessons in leadership and in marketting to target audiences. Priceless lessons at any age.